Don’t Be Afraid, Mobile Towers Don’t Harm Your Health: TRAI

We all have been afraid of mobile towers close to our homes some time or the other. It was (and probably still is) considered that the radiations originating from these mobile network towers adversely affects human health. And because of this some residential societies even force shut down the mobile network towers operating in their premises.

Multiple judgment from various high courts across the country also reinforce the fact that mobile towers don’t have any bad effect on our health. There is no scientific evidence that proves how these radiations affect human health badly.

“A number of judgments delivered by the High Courts in Gujarat, Kerala, Allahabad, Delhi and Himachal Pradesh have ruled that there is no conclusive evidence to prove that EMF radiation emitted from mobile towers has adverse effects on health. Thus, they cannot potentially harm humans,” said Agneshwar Sen, TRAI Advisor (B&CS).

India Has Very Stringent Radiations Guidelines

India has one of the most stringent EMF radiation guidelines in the world. It is currently kept at 1/10th of the global emission norms recommended by International Commission on Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP), recognized by WHO.

The Department of Telecom (DoT) also charges a heft penalty to any operator violating these guidelines on even a single mobile tower.

“The EMF penalty norm that has been set by the Department of Telecom (DoT) as on November 2013 levies a penalty of Rs. 10 lakh per tower site per telecom service provider if they fail to comply with the set standards,” Gupta added.

To ensure that all telecom providers are adhering to the guidelines, the Telecom Enforcement Resource Monitoring (TERM) cell checks the EMF radiations emitted by 10% of the base stations and roof top towers of all telecom providers in the country. Only one EMF radiation violation was found in West Bengal and that was rectified by increasing the height of the mobile tower.

To ensure good network coverage along with following low emission norms TRAI has recommended M&As and spectrum sharing among the telecom companies. This will help in meeting the ever increasing demand of telecom services and high-speed data services of almost 1 billion mobile phone users in the country.

TRAI Advisor also said that the inadequate number of functional mobile network towers was one of the main reason for poor quality of service of many telcos. This can easily be overcome by increasing the number of base stations in the country.